The little girl, who was eight years old at the time, stepped off the school bus in Cabot, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1985, wearing a gray coat over her blue leg warmers and a denim skirt.
Cherrie Ann Mahan was only a few hundred yards away from her house. However, she was never on her way there.
It is still unknown to the investigators what happened to her at this point in time.
For decades, her missing people poster has remained in place. It was the first poster to be included on the mailers sent by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The poster has been updated with an age-progressed portrait depicting what she might look like as a woman in her forties.
Over the course of the ensuing years, the Pennsylvania State Police have continued to review tips, but they have encountered a great deal of de.ad ends in a case that had been closed for a very long time.
Nevertheless, as recently as the previous month, a lady said that she was the long-lost Cherrie herself. The lady’s fingerprints do not match those of Cherrie, according to the police, and Cherrie’s mother has said that she does not trust the woman.
The probe continues to go ahead as a result.
Cherrie was last seen getting off at her home stop, according to witnesses who were there at the time but were other small children on the school bus. In addition, they reported to the police a brilliant blue 1976 Dodge van that was located nearby. The vehicle was painted with a mural representing a skier and a mountain, as stated on the poster that was placed for her missing person. The poster also said that the van “may be involved in her disappearance.” There are a few additional hints concerning what took place on that day that are included on the poster.
While speaking to CBS News in the year 2020, Pennsylvania State Trooper Jim Long said, “There have been a lot of vans that we looked at.” “There have been a great number of vans that we have actually processed forensically, but unfortunately, they have not led us anywhere.”
Observations of Phantoms
However, the corpse of Cherrie has never been located, and the police are still investigating the case as a missing persons case, rather than a murder investigation, even though it has been 39 years after the incident.
This age-progressed shot, which was made public by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, provides a glimpse into what Cherrie may have looked like if she had lived to become an adult.
In the past, CBS News has reported on other phantom sightings of women in Michigan and New Jersey who seemed to be adult Cherrie. However, the authorities have ruled out the possibility that these ladies are indeed phantoms.
An other lady reportedly contacted the nursing home where Cherrie’s mother worked and claimed that she was Cherrie. This information was provided by the outlet. In addition to comparing family images and taking the woman’s fingerprints, the police determined that she was not the suspect.
A lady went on a Facebook page called Memories of Cherrie Mahan in May of this year and claimed that she was Cherie in what the moderator of the site, Brock Organ, subsequently referred to as “aggressive posts.” These messages have since been removed.
“There are some individuals who ask, ‘But what if it was actually her?'” Organ provided an explanation for the woman’s exclusion from the group in the post that he authored. “The answer to this question is straightforward: if it was in fact her, she could go to any police station and make arrangements for a DNA test without having to contact others online and make aggressive accusations. What a reasonable person would do is to act in that manner.
In a remark that was left below the post, Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, said that the police were conducting an investigation. She continued by saying, “This is very difficult for me, so please be aware that I see everything.”
In the 2010s, Cherrie’s mother was sent a note that was handwritten and purported to discuss the manner in which the little girl had been murdered as well as the location where she had been laid to rest.
“It was very graphic and cruel to me,” McKinney recalled of the letter in an interview with CBS News in the year 2020.
Following their conversation with McKinney, WPXI reported that the individual who had sent the letter closed it by saying, “I pray you find some peace after you find her body.” The person signed off as Pastor Justice.
She turned it over to the authorities, and the letter rekindled the investigation that had been going on.
In an interview with CBS News, Trooper Long said, “We actually followed up on to the point where we were investigating people outside of [Pennsylvania].” He also mentioned that the FBI involved themselves in the investigation.
The property that was mentioned in the letter was visited by McKinney, who was accompanied by law enforcement and cadaver dogs.
They were once again confronted with a de.ad end.
At that time, Long expressed his regret by stating, “Unfortunately, that letter as a whole has not been very fruitful at this point.”
Cherrie was born to McKinney when she was 16 years old, and McKinney said that she fell pregnant with her daughter after being raped. An accusation of rape was never brought against the biological father.
“She was the ‘IT’ for me. Her statement to CBS News was, “Everything!” It was impossible for me to leave that home without her by my side; we were constantly together, we grew up together, and she was my life.
She told CBS that she does not think that McKinney’s biological father is “personally” responsible for Cherrie’s abduction; but, she does feel that “the people that he knows” were involved in the disappearance of Cherrie.
In addition, she said, “I believe that, but I am unable to prove anything.”
According to the publication, the father has been questioned by the police, and he has denied any relation to the incident.
As part of his interview with CBS News, Trooper Long made the following statement on the suspects in the case: “Anybody that was implicated, until we find evidence otherwise, they still would be considered a suspect.”